


Until the Sun Rises

by roseclouds



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Universe, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pre-Relationship, Silent confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:27:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26479459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseclouds/pseuds/roseclouds
Summary: Lance is the last thing Keith expects to find in the ship's common room at the dead of night, and cuddling with him is the last thing he expects to be doing.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 216





	Until the Sun Rises

Keith vowed never to get up in the middle of the night without first putting socks on again. His feet turned numb the longer he walked across the castle floor, chills charging up his spine as he moved from his room to the kitchen.

He had intended to retrieve a glass of water, but the thought of icy filtered water gushing into a glass that Keith then had to handle was enough to change his mind. Maybe Hunk had made soup recently.

As he neared the kitchen he pulled the blanket he had brought with him tighter around himself, shivering as he arrived at the entrance before his attention was caught by something other than the low hum of the kitchen appliances.

Dull light was leaking out from under the closed doors of the common room, just a few feet away from where Keith was standing.

Typically, those doors were wide open, welcoming any of the paladins inside to relax and play video games on the system that Pidge had setup for everyone. The fact that they were closed was hardly suspicious, but considering how late it was, whoever was inside would be far from rested for their mission tomorrow.

Keith turned to move towards the closed doors that swished open at his touch. He expected to find Pidge curled up on the sofa with a controller dangling out of her hand, jolting awake at Keith’s arrival and begging for just five more minutes of Killbot Phantasm before Keith forced her back to her room to get some sleep. What he didn’t expect to see, was Lance.

Lance, sitting on the sofa with his back to Keith, his head bowed into his knees that were brought up to his chest. A blanket was partially covering one of his shoulders, but for the most part, it was strewn beside him.

The gaming system was off, and the room was silent; except for an odd sound that Keith couldn’t quite place.

 _Sniff_.

Keith’s throat grew tight with realization as Lance’s gentle sobs filled the silence of the ship.

This was not Keith’s area of expertise. It was all too easy for him to simply turn around and get Hunk or Shiro involved instead, but the guilt of leaving Lance alone like this at this time of night glued Keith in his place.

He wondered how long Lance had been here. The thought of him sitting here for hours, quietly sobbing to himself at god knows what hour... Keith wasn’t going anywhere.

Still, Lance was yet to notice Keith’s presence, and Keith was unsure of how to alert him to it without startling him out of his skin.

He shuffled his feet to no avail before trying a quiet cough in an attempt to catch his attention, but Lance’s head remained bowed, his shoulders quivering.

“Lance?” Keith managed to say, his voice soft and slow.

Regardless of Keith’s caution, the boy snapped his head up and spun around to lock eyes with the sudden intruder. He brought his hands quickly to his eyes, wiping his sleeve coarsely against them as he cleared his throat.

“Are you okay?”

Keith could tell, tears or no tears, that the answer was no, but there was no shock in Lance hastily straightening his back and denying it.

“Uh, yeah,” he said, voice meek and wobbly, “I’m fine.” He shifted so that his back faced Keith once more, arms raising again to gently dab his cheeks.

Keith argued silently with himself, but no matter how many times he told himself that Lance didn’t want anyone, let alone Keith, to see him in a state like this, he couldn’t help but move closer to the sofa.

The last thing he wanted to do was upset Lance even more, but if Keith knew anything, it was that leaving would guarantee him a sleepless night; he knew all too well how easily Lance could weave his way into his head late at night, leaving him staring at the ceiling in restless defeat.

He was certain he’d be staring at that ceiling for weeks if he followed through with his next move, but not even the threat of that stopped him from reaching for the blanket that had now fallen entirely off Lance and pulling it snuggly around the boy before taking a seat beside him.

Lance kept his head down, tensing at Keith’s sudden proximity. “I said I was fine,” he croaked out, though Keith decided it was probably intended to sound harsher.

Keith pulled off his own blanket and wrapped that one around Lance too as the other remained tense. “It’s late.”

“I couldn’t sleep.” His voice broke as another sniffle tried to escape him.

Keith fiddled with a stray thread dangling from his pajama pants. It was the first time he’d ever seen Lance without a smile plastered on his face (or a scowl, if Keith had said something to work him up on purpose).

Lance’s hands were gripped around himself so tightly that his arms shook, and Keith could feel his own fingers practically twitching to hold him or _something_ , but that was a very high mountain for Keith to conquer in just one night.

“Listen,” he tried, “you don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but—”

Lance’s lips tightened to repress an abrupt whimper that squeaked out of his mouth. He brought his hands up to grasp his hair, bending further into himself. His face buried itself in his lap, but it did little to mask his returning sobs.

His breathing grew heavy and unstable, and his gentle sniffs turned to pained weeping as his guard gradually dissolved.

“Lance, hey.” Keith kept his voice soft, reaching for the other’s wrists and gently tugging them away from his face. He reached his arm around Lance to pull him closer before he could determine if it was something he was permitted to do. "C’mere,” he murmured, “you're okay."

He settled his arm around Lance’s shoulder, rubbing along part of his neck that poked out of the blankets. Lance's breath hitched in his throat, caught on a sob that was strangled on its way out, but he didn't move away. In fact, he moved closer.

In a hasty movement, his arms wrapped around Keith’s torso as his head nestled into the crook of Keith’s neck.

Keith froze at the feeling of Lance’s shaky breath against his skin, but soon brought a hand around the boy to rub slowly up and down his back, the other one rising to tentatively stroke through his hair.

Lance’s body seemed to release some of the tension it was holding, and as Keith continued the motions, Lance's breathing began to slow, reduced to the odd deep exhale. Slowly, he lifted his head, lingering midway to enjoy the fingers running along his scalp a moment longer before pulling back and wiping his nose with his hand, still comfortably within Keith’s hold.

His eyes, wet and puffy, then finally met Keith's, his lips trembling in an attempt to muster up an explanation while he kept his tears at bay.

"It's okay," Keith said, bringing a thumb to Lance's face to brush the remnants of tears away. "Whatever it is, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just want to make sure you're alright."

Lance kept his eyes on Keith for a long moment after his soft touch pulled away. 

“Can we talk about it in the morning?” His voice was barely audible.

“Of course, anytime.”

Lance bit down on his lip before shifting out of their position momentarily so he could bring the blankets back around him. He held one of his arms out, gesturing for Keith to lean into the space he’d made for him.

Keith eyed the opening cautiously. He was treading a very fine line here, but other than the soft blush on his cheeks, Lance didn’t seem fazed by it.

“Do you think you could stay with me?” He asked. His hands turned to hold themselves. “Only if that’s okay,” he added, lowering his arm slightly as his words stumbled out. “It’s just, you know, a little cold.”

They both knew it wasn’t, not in the rooms, anyway. The ship was set to the same temperature at all hours of the day. Aside from the one time Coran crashed into the temperature gauge by accident, turning each room ice cold, the ship was always temperate.

“Yeah,” Keith managed as he inched closer, “for as long as you need me to.” The blanket fell over him as he did, drawn in tightly by Lance and effectively trapping their bodies against each other's.

The initial worry that plagued Keith about overstepping his boundaries was soon eased as he began to count the beats of Lance's heart thumping through his body. It was faster than he imagined it would be, but in time it steadied, gentle and reassuring.

Their encounter was undoubtedly unfamiliar, but the warmth of their skin, encased by the blankets, made it easier for Keith to grow accustomed to it. It almost felt natural, the way Lance’s head adjusted itself to fit neatly on his shoulder, and the way their hands grazed over each other’s ever so slightly.

“Still cold?” Keith asked, allowing his shoulders to relax under Lance’s weight.

Lance released a low hum. “Think I might still need some warming up.”

Keith could have smirked, but more than anything he just wanted to see Lance smile. It was shameful how much he longed for the missing expression after a mere moment without it.

“You know,” he began, “I saw Shiro almost fall down the stairs the other day.”

It was so abrupt that it caught Lance entirely off guard. He was quiet as he processed the sentence, snorting not a moment later.

Keith struggled to bite back his own smile. “He dropped all of his food and the bowl completely shattered. He made me swear not to tell Hunk.”

Lance’s face broke into a grin, eyes crinkling as laughter erupted from his lips, bright and contagious, like Keith had just told him the funniest joke he’d ever heard. It was as though the worry had been lifted from his face as he chuckled unabashedly into Keith’s shoulder.

Keith could only watch, enamored by him.

As their laughter died down Lance nestled further into Keith’s embrace and with some hesitation, intertwined their fingers, not daring to look up as he felt their skin grow hot.

Lance released a deep breath, seemingly settling in for the night despite knowing for a fact that their necks would be aching in the morning. Keith ran a thumb over his knuckles, garnering another soft hum from him as his eyes fluttered close.

“Thank you, Keith.”


End file.
